The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-12-23
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
a. Homily on ssToo Much Ado About
Small Things"
Heaven Lost Sight of in Worrying Over
the Trihes Of Earth--The Tendency
10 Excuse Big Sins ana Mag
nify Little Ones.

% Excuse Big Sins and Mag.
nifty Little Ones.
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage took for the
subject of recent sermon in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle: "Too Much Ado About
Small Things" preaching from the fol.
lowing text:
Y o,, blind guides, which strain ct snas, and
The preacher said: A provsrb Is com.
pact wisdom. knowledge in chunks, q
library in a sentence, the electricity OF
many clouds discharged at one bolt, a
river put through q mil'.race. When
Christ quotes the proverb Of a text he
means to set forth the ludicrous behavior
of those who make q great bluster about
small sins and have no appreciation about
great ones.
In nv text small insect and a large
qnadruped are brought into comparison
n gnat and a camel. You have in museums
or on the desert seen the latter, a great
awkward. sprawling creature. with back
two stories high, and stomach having q
collection Of reservoirs for desert travel,
an animal forbidden to this Jews
as food, and in MANY literatures
entitled 'the ship Of the desert"
The gnat spoken OF in the tex
is in the grub form. 1t is born in POOL
o. pond. after a few weeks becoming a
chrysalis, and then. after few days, be-
comes the gnat as we recogniz, it. But
the insect spoken of in the tex is in its
very smallest shape, and It yet inhabits
ths water-for my text is a misprint, and
ought to read. "strain ont a gnat."
Ny text shows you this prince Of incon.
sistencies. A man after long observation
has formed the suspicion that in a cup of
water he is about to drink there is a grub
or the grandnarent Of a gnat He goes
and gets a seive and strainer. Hs takes
the water and pouPs it through the sieve
in thu broad light. He says: 81 would
rather do anv thing almost than drink
this water until this larva be ext;rpated."
This water Is brought under inquisition.
The experiment il successful. The
water rushes through thu sieve and
leaves against thu sids Of the sieve
the grub or gnat. Then the man care.
full Y removes the insect and drinks the
water in placidity. But. on going ont one
day, and hungry, he dsvours ''shin of
the desert" the camel which the Jews
were forbidden to eat. the gastronome
has no compunctions of conscience. He
puts the lower jaw under the camel's fore
foot and the upper jaw over the hump of
the camel's back and gives one swallow,
and the dromedary disappears forever.
He strained Mt gnat and swallowed a
camel.
VIII lst Christ's audienc, were yet smil-
Ing at the appositeness and wit of his il
Inc fvot tnp-for In fbo,- lid in, ohrrrl,
unless thew were too stupid to understand
The byp"rbole-Christ practically said TO
them: "That ia YOU" Punc.illious about
small things; reckless about affairs of grea.
No subject ever writhed I'M
der n surgeons knife more bitterly than
lid the Pharisees under Chrst's scalpel of
truth. As an anatomist will take human
body TO pieces and put them under a
for examination, so Chri st
nds his way to the heart of the dead
Pharisee and cuts it out and puts it under
be glass of insDection for all generations
10 examine. Those Pharisees thought
hat Christ wonld flatter them and COM
,liment them, and how they must have
writhed under the red hot words as he said:
We fools. We whited sepulchres. We blind
'uides, which strain out q gnat and swallow
'amel.
There are in our day q great n my gnats
strained out and a great many camels
and It is the object of this SER
non to sketch few persons who are OK.
ensivsly engaged in that business.
First, remark that all those mimi |
Il the Gospel are photographed in the |
ext who are very scrupulrus about the |
of religion. but put no |
particular stress upon matters of vast i'm. |
,crtauce. Church services ought to be
T ave and solemn. There IA no room for
r.volity in religious convocation. But
h ere are illustrations and there are !
Ivperbo'es, like that of Christ in the text,
hat will irradiats with smiles ANY in
e'ligent auditory. There ara mon. like
hose bind sides of the text. who advo.
ale only those things in religious service
vhich draw the corners of the mouth
own, and denounce all those things
rhich have tendency to draw the corn.
RS of the mouth up; and these men will
o to installations and to presbyteries
nd to conferences and to associations,
heir pockets full Of fine sleeves to strain
ut the gnats, while in their own churches
{ home every SUNDAY there are fifty
4
hurcbes a great dormitory, and their
sermons are a cradle, and the
hymns q lullaby, while
ONE wakeful soul in a pew with her fan
eeps the flies of uncon scious persons ap.
roximate. Now, I say it is worse to sleep
I church than to smile in church. for the
lttsr implies at least attention, while
ns Corner implies thu indifference Of the
carers and the stupidity Of the speaker.
a old age. or from physical iniirmity, or
rom long watching with the sick, drows.
,ess will sometimes overpOwer one: but
hen minister of the Gospel looks of
pom an audience and finds healthy and
.telligcnt people struggling with dr0wsi.
.ss, It is time for him to give out tho
'oxology or pronounce the benediction.
he great fault of church services to-day ,
not too nue.: vvacity, but too much
,mnolence. The one is an irritating gnat
rat may be easily strained ou.: the other
a great, sprawling Snd sleepy-eyed ,
amel OF the dry desert In all our Sab.
nth schools, in all our Bible classes, in
Il our pulpits we need to brighten M our
.!igious message with such Christ.like .
ivacity as we find in the text.
l take down from my library the biog. ,
lphi,s Of m nisters and writer's of past I
ges, inspired and uninspired, who have ,
one the most to bring souls to Jesus .
hrist, and I find that, without q single {
they con secrated their wit and ,
,eir humor to Christ. Elijah used it ,
hen he advised the Baalites, "a they
,uld not make their god respond, telling j
lem to call louder. as thor god might be I
,und asleep or gone a hunting, Job used 8
when he said to his se,f.conce tied com.
,rters, "Wisdom will die with you" ,
hrist not only used it in the text, but I
hen he Ironically complimented the {
ltrefied Pharisees, saying. "The whole I
eed not q physician" and W ben by one {
ord he described the cunning of Hsrod, t